Finebaum: Les Miles is the SEC's Turkey of the Year

View full size(Press-Register Illustration: Brian Lyman/Photos: The Associated Press)LSU coach Les Miles' poor clock decisions at the end of the LSU-Ole Miss game have made him Paul Finebaum's Turkey of the Year.Lane Kiffin, take a deep breath (if you can stop talking long enough) and
exhale slowly.

Just like with the annual Thanksgiving turkey ceremony at The White House,
you have been pardoned. No matter how goofy you have looked during your
tumultuous tenure at Tennessee, your worst sins really aren't that bad.

After Saturday's meltdown against Ole Miss, Miles hasn't merely stolen this
year's Turkey of the Year award from Kiffin, he has, perhaps, retired the
trophy.

There is no need to recant chapter and verse all that went wrong Saturday in
what was easily the dumbest and most inept coaching performance (from someone
not named Mike Shula) I've ever seen in the SEC. Even Miles' dog would probably
admit that his master makes Bozo the Clown look intelligent. The issue really is
no longer whether Miles can outrun his colossal blunder. The question is whether
LSU administrators and fans will concede that this program has fallen and can't
get up.

Miles is a misfit. And Saturday proved that once again.

The people I really feel sorry for are the LSU fans.

They have intrepidly defended Miles after Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa.
They talked about how they had the right guy. When Miles won the national
championship in 2007 (remember, he lost the regular-season home finale to
Arkansas), the passion intensified and so did the trash talking directed toward
Alabama.

However, Saban hasn't lost a regular-season game in two years while Saturday
marked the eighth regular-season loss for Miles since the national title in
2007. Miles is 7-8 in regular-season SEC play. Saban is 15-0 during this
stretch.

Now Miles had made the LSU nation look simply idiotic. This is a man who
makes $4 million a year and he can't figure out the basic fundamentals of
football. Duh!

He has a reputation as a great recruiter. Even after Saban, five-star
blue-chip talent continued to flock to Baton Rouge. If you're a high school
football star who watched Saturday's sideline meltdown, would you seriously
consider playing for this comedian? There are turning points in everyone's
career. Saturday was that seminal moment for Miles.

For some time, I thought Miles would high tail it for Michigan when the
administration there came to the same conclusion as everyone else -- Rich
Rodriguez is an absolute disaster. Other than being a Michigan man, would Miles
really be an upgrade?

Supporters of Miles point to his record. Even this year, his first two losses
were against the top two teams in the nation. Yet, Saturday's 25-23 loss to Ole
Miss was unconscionable. Against a coach, Houston Nutt, who continually made his
own dubious decisions (for awhile, it really looked like a casting call for the
sequel to "Dumb and Dumber"), the LSU players nearly found a way to pull out a
miraculous victory. However, it all came apart with a coach on the sidelines who
wore his favorite deer in the headlights look.

LSU still has a game left against Arkansas and sunshine pumpers might boast
that the season can still be salvaged. But it can't. Because even though the
record might look good and the national ranking respectable, it will be
impossible for reasonable fans to ever trust Miles with the keys to the kingdom.
Instead of thinking in the future about what your head coach might do right to
win a big game, fans will be wondering if Les Miles is going to mess it up
again.